A global mathematical model for simultaneously obtaining the optimal layout and design of urban drainage systems for foul sewage and stormwater is presented. The model can handle every kind of network, including parallel storm and foul sewers. It selects the optimal location for pumping systems and outfalls or wastewater treatment plants (defining the natural and artificial drainage basins), and it allows the presence of special structures and existing subsystems for optimal remodeling or expansion. It is possible to identify two basic optimization levels: in the first level, the generation and transformation of general layouts (consisting of forests of trees) until a convergence criterion is reached, and in the second level, the design and evaluation of each forest. The global
Stormwater urban drainage systems are typically designed in open channel flow. Pipe sewers must have enough capacity to transport maximum design flows for a given frequency of the project rainfall. The classic rational method or related procedures that are based on rational approaches are still currently used to a great extent, particularly for small urban drainage basins, and the pipes are frequently designed in uniform steady flow. Numerical integration of Saint-Venant equations for one-dimensional gradually varied unsteady flow allows the computation of waves’ progression along the pipes for given input surface hydrographs. This paper presents a comprehensive, systematic, simple, and original comparison between the peak flows that are achieved through simulation in unsteady flow using an implicit complete dynamic model, developed in the Laboratory of Hydraulics, Water Resources and Environment of Coimbra University, and those that are obtained with the classic rational method along urban drainage networks. Boundary conditions and some approximations typically considered in the methodologies are analyzed in detail. Classic rational approaches may underestimate the peak and design flows. Practical recommendations for the system design phase when rational approaches are used are also proposed. The need for indispensable requirements for suitable urbanization rules, intelligent management of surface runoff in urban basins, and control measures for the reduction of peak flows entering existing networks is confirmed and reinforced.
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